Everglades Fire Season A Sleepy One

May 19, 1986|By John Mulliken, Staff Writer

Not even an arid April could awaken a sleepy Everglades fire season.

Last year, fires erupted from January through May in the bone-dry swamplands of Palm Beach and Broward counties. One year ago Friday, a fire in the Everglades overheated powerlines and caused a blackout in Broward, Dade and parts of Palm Beach County.

This year, large areas of the fire-prone Everglades Conservation Area 3A are still holding standing water as regional water managers slowly release its stockpile to Everglades National Park.

In fact, the water level in the Area 3A, the largest of the conservation areas, is a foot above average for this time of the year, with water above ground level in 33 to 50 percent of the area.

``The dominant factor is rainfall,`` explained Tom MacVicar, deputy director of operations for the South Florida Water Management District.

Despite the limited April rainfall, the Everglades conservation area in western Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties has received 16 inches of rain, about three inches above normal for the first six months of the seven-month dry season.

The rainy season traditionally begins between mid-May and mid-June, quickly bringing an end to the fire season.

In the final weeks of fire season, state wildlife officials are keeping a close eye on several publicly owned wilderness areas of Southwest Palm Beach County.

Bob Ellis, chief biologist for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission`s Everglades region, said he is concerned about the fire threat in the Rotenberger Wildlife Management Area in Palm Beach County`s southwest corner.

To reduce the fire threat in the Everglades, the game commission started controlled fires on 22,500 acres in the Area 3A, but did not get an opportunity to do the same on Rotenberger.

``We wanted to burn Rotenberger, but it dried out too quick,`` he said.

The commission and state forestry officials set small fires in some areas at the end of the wet season to reduce excess amounts of brush and other fuel that could cause dry-season wildfires to be more dangerous.

Rotenberger, the Holey Land and Brown`s Farm wildlife management areas are former Everglades areas that have been altered by overdrainage.

Rotenberger and Holey Land are slated for restoration as part of Florida`s Save Our Everglades program. Restoration plans call for the areas to be reflooded on a seasonal basis.

None of the areas have caught fire this year. All three were scarred from several small muck fires last year.

``There`s fuel out there,`` Ellis said of Rotenberger. ``It`s a concern.``

Last weekend, two natural fires were ignited by lightning strikes in the extreme southwest areas of the Everglades. One was in the grassy areas of western Everglades National Park, while the other, riskier fire was in the southwest area of the Big Cypress National Preserve.

The fires were eventually put out by federal firefighters, who were aided by a rainstorm last week.

Neither fire caused any significant environmental damage, and in fact, probably will have some environmental benefits. Fire is a part of the natural cycle in the Everglades.

MacVicar the section of the Big Cypress includes a drier, more upland habitat than the conservation areas and was left very dry after six weeks with little or no rainfall. In April, the district averaged less than one-half inch of rain.

The big fires in Area 3A last year caused no last environmental damage. The grasses quickly regenerated after the rainy season began.